Boycott SOPA: An Android app that terrifies publishers and politicians

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Armchair activists now have a tool that can transport their SOPA protestations into the real world: Boycott SOPA, an Android app that scans barcodes and tells you whether an object’s manufacturer/publisher is a supporter of the much maligned Stop Online Piracy Act.

If you’ve ever scanned a barcode on your Android phone to look up a book or CD on Amazon, Boycott SOPA works in exactly the same way: First you have to install the ZXing Barcode Scanner app, but then you simply go around pointing your phone’s camera at product barcodes. Boycott SOPA gives you a big red cross if the product is distributed by a SOPA supporter, or a green tick if it’s “clean.” Much to my chagrin, Coca-Cola supports SOPA — but Smirnoff, on the other hand, does not. If you ever needed a sign from Above that you ought to drink more, there it is.

Scanning food isn’t really where Boycott SOPA is at, though: Really, it’s all about scanning books, CDs, movies, and games — products that are protected by massively militant groups like the MPAA, RIAA, and BSA who are spending millions on buying off Representatives to shoehorn SOPA through Congress. If you scan a random selection of media in your DVD rack or bookcase, you’ll be unsurprised to see that almost every object is produced by a company that supports SOPA. It’s worth noting that the app isn’t perfect, though: It relies on a user-curated list of SOPA supporters — a list that isn’t complete nor publicly visible. The app developer claims that the list will be regularly updated.

Technicalities aside, though, the ultimate goal of Boycott SOPA is to change your shopping habits. The idea is that you should scan everything that you buy at the supermarket, and refuse to put any SOPA-backed products into your basket. It’s a very grandiose idea, and in a day and age where shoppers regularly eschew a selection of products on principle (“damn baby-killing multinationals!”), or buy entirely local produce, Boycott SOPA fits right in.

Inadvertently, though, the developers of Boycott SOPA have given us a tantalizing hint of how technology empowers consumers. Imagine for a second if you chopped “SOPA” from the name of the app and simply called it “Boycott.” Imagine if there was an Android app that let you boycott whatever you wanted. If you had a personal beef with Coca-Cola — which has very long tendrils indeed — you could program the app to pick up anything produced by Coca-Cola and its manifold subsidiaries. Likewise, if you want to stick it to publishers or artists that refuse to make their songs available on Spotify, you could tell Boycott to block them.

You could even take it one step further and make Boycott the one-stop-shop for all of your political needs. Imagine if you could scan a cereal box and find out that the company’s CEO likes to hunt rhinos, ride elephants, and eat shark fin soup — at the same time. Imagine if you could scan a video game box and immediately see all of the active legislation, the Representative sponsors and supporters, and how much money they’ve received from industry lobbying. You could even go as far as equipping the app with facial recognition, so that you can point your phone at a Senator’s face on the TV and quickly find out whether what he’s saying actually jibes with his real world behavior and voting record. This isn’t a futuristic concept; we could do this right now with the tech we have.

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Would have been nice, but it will not install on my Kindle Fire….. it requires an Android phone only.

Mark Hunt

How do you expect to scan a code on a device without a camera?

Salvatore LaFata

I thought you’d be able to look up the product online. My bad!!

http://www.facebook.com/rob.ueberfeldt Rob Ueberfeldt

Type in the barcode number

Michael Franklin

The best way to protest against big business is with your wallet; don’t buy their products and they will begin to listen.

Anonymous

Good thinking – if only there were an app that would make this easy…

Michael Franklin

Curiously enough, some of us are too old for all the technology. We don’t use apps… we just get pissed and boycott the daylights out of people we don’t like :)

http://twitter.com/Knowsguy Knows Guy

You miss the point, grampy. How are you going to instantly be able to know who to “dislike?” With an app. Otherwise, you need to research each product individually. Your old-fashioned simplicity makes doing something like this nearly impossible.

If you don’t want to get the app, I think there’s generally a list of corporations you can blacklist (I remember seeing screenshots of coca-cola in the product description)

cheers.

Michael Franklin

Hey, I’m on your side guys. Even being an old coot, I can still be a smartass. I am allowed ;)

SOPA dies.

Anonymous

I was suggesting you just read the frickin’ article that you just summarized in your post. Thanks for paying attention, tho.

http://twitter.com/hemo_jr Matt Hickman

Who said innovation in America was dead? I love the idea, and the implementation. To really bring it home, maybe it could send a customizable e-mail or make a tweet: “Item xxxxx not purchased because manufacturer xxxxxx supports SOPA”

Highest average gas price in the city last month = No Purchase for the next 2 months

etc. . . .

Anonymous

Of course, it could also be seriously abused right now with the technology we have. Assembling and maintaining those lists is not a simple task to begin with, and depends on the integrity of the developers to maintain objectivity. Adding a company by “accident” could cost a legitimate company a lot of money.

Anonymous

Use public domain yearly reporting data.

Give companies an official feedback channel to declare their policies.

Anonymous

Yes, that’s wonderful if it’s adhered to, but it’s too easy for a developer to make an “almost the same as” app that just tweaks a couple entries. Many, many people won’t educate themselves with regards to which is the official/legitimate app.

And yes, litigation or filtering by the android or apple app store is certainly possible, but again imperfect.

Anonymous

Actually the database maintenance could be crowd sourced with voting feedback that would attract review by the developers to ensure veracity and integrity, similar to wikipedia. I have designed a facebook app for social commentary with such a system.

Anonymous

I don’t disagree. It COULD. But it wouldn’t have to and it would be incredibly simple to create a knockoff of a legitimate app with inaccurate information. I’m not concerned about the techies who read blogs like this, it’s the normal people who have little to no idea where such a database would be kept and wouldn’t bother to fact check.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_U2H7S4MG6PLQUVOA2CFNMZ2QUQ Ric Desan

I dont have an Andriod phone yet but this app alone will get me into the game right away! We’ll see how well they like losing sales for punishing consumers based on the way they want US to consume!

Daniel Graves

Good bye SOPA

Daniel Graves

Good bye SOPA

Daniel Graves

Sweet! Got the app on my Motorola RAZR and am ready to start boy cotting! I hate SOPA with a PASSION!!!!

Daniel Graves

Sweet! Got the app on my Motorola RAZR and am ready to start boy cotting! I hate SOPA with a PASSION!!!!

Chris Noland

A brilliant idea is to have something like this integrated with Google Wallet and then alerts you are about to purchase something from your “do not buy” list. I am not sure if the POS data is shared with google wallet but something like that could get multiple user groups to use the product

_Kingster_

If it boycotts based on BSA membership, then it is faulty. The BSA doesn’t support SOPA, currently.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PZ44IPOI5B4WEU6RAUERXNHP5A ky_marine

I love it!

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PZ44IPOI5B4WEU6RAUERXNHP5A ky_marine

I love it!

Alex Manuel

Tech DOES empower consumers — which is why we’ve got corporations working so hard against it, both to protect their archaic business models, and to wrest any little shred of control out of our hands so we’ll shut up and keep spending like good cattle.

http://caden.myopenid.com/ Caden

Why do you say that SOPA is maligned? Doesn’t that mean that people are saying untrue bad things about it?

Tried the app and loved the idea. However, no matter what I scan, it keeps coming back with the same thing I scanned. (The good thing is Kleenex is SOPA-free.) Maybe my bar code scanner is not the right version.

I would never use this app – because it requires a shitty barcode scanner that has access to basically ALL your data (contacts, browsing history, SD card + more)

Anonymous

It works with any barcode scanner. If you already have “google goggles” on your phone, you can avoid dealing with a third party app.

http://twitter.com/Bariman43 Baris Bicer

The companies are already scared of us (See: GoDaddy) and anyone that comes out and claims to support SOPA quickly attempt to retract the statement by blaming it on bad journalism (See: Capcom). If this isn’t enough to make the companies fear our every move, I don’t know what will.

Corey Lunsford

SOPA is a great thing. Too many liberals spread their lies over the internet. Just look at the Arab Spring. Liberals call it a good thing but all it has done is help Islam in its war against Christianity and the TRUE WORD of GOD.

Craig Blaylock

I call Poe’s Law on you.

Julián Garamendy

I welcome this app. However I would like it to provide references to its claims. I scanned my coca-cola bottle and it says it supports SOPA. But I can’t find anything about it on the internet.

Where does it talk about whos scared? Publishers and politicians but which ones? Why are they scared? Do you know for a fact some are scared or did you just make up another horrible tech headline?

Fact is none of them are scared. They know we (and i really mean you because i put boycots into action regulary) dont have the balls to back up what comes out of our mouths. I downloaded the app and will support it. As time goes on I will try to get more involved because ths really is a great tool.

Andrew Benjamin

Now we just need people to Boycott Microsoft and Apple… Hmm… Time to get more Google ware and linux stuff….. http://linuxmint.com (Based on Ubuntu and even easier to use!) just sayin… Besides the new MS Office 2010 is horrible too.. Time to jump to Open Office?

Alex Wallace

Additionally, what if the application could be set up to notify the company that a consumer had just scanned their product using this app, and avoided purchasing it because it is on the blacklist. Would that not also be effective in accelerating the indication that the company is f*cking up?

Anonymous

can anyone tell me – does this app work from a database (maintained by whom?) that keeps up to date info on who is/is not supporting SOPA. Is that database (?) searchable by those without mobile phones? Sorry – not very technically adept and don’t know how this works. – thanx.

Anonymous

No Coka Cola?

http://twitter.com/frosty_hotboy Andrei Fierbinteanu

So I scanned a Coca Cola bottle and it says that it supports SOPA, and then I scan a Fanta bottle and it says that’s ok (it doesn’t support SOPA). What’s up with that?

http://twitter.com/PJFusco PJFusco

SOPA and all such ridiculous attempts at putting this particular genie back in the bottle are just more useless flailings from spoiled-brat industries who’ve been ripping consumers off for years while stuffing their pockets with politicians. And I’m an author and raving Conservative Capitalist! The paradigm for making money on IP, including art, music (if that’s what you want to call the hip-hop sh_t out there today), writing etc. etc. has to change because the technology won’t. It’s only becoming more sophisticated, not less. This law is an effort to protect that which cannot be protected with anything resembling justice or efficiency in this age. The Luddites who came up with it are whining, crying Hollywood types who have their heads up their posteriors hoping for some kind of light at the end of that intestine. One wishes to heaven Congress would actually do something meaningful in the midst of a global economic meltdown instead of fooling with something over which no one has or ever will have any control again.

Anonymous

Niiice!!! stick it to the man

http://twitter.com/ItsBrou Dan C

Love it.

http://www.facebook.com/OktoberStorm Jørgen Oktober Storm Nestande

So riding elephants is bad?

You is fat

Great. 100% of products available in a grocery market are banned.

http://profile.yahoo.com/J3B7VQZRF6SZB5GXQRE4XFM5SI E.

>>>Imagine if there was an Android app that let you boycott whatever you wanted. If you had a personal beef with Coca-Cola —…<<<App developers, please get to work.

http://profile.yahoo.com/A6IITMCX2SVCWFHGGEORDLWQQE Illyrius

Given the title of this article, it’s a bit disappointing it doesn’t include anything about company/publisher/politician reactions to the app. The headline seems to have very little to do with the actual article.

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